꧁ 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 ꧂
"𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐂𝐀𝐍'𝐓 fecking marry him, Michelle!" Teagan angrily protested, crossing her arms over her chest.
The group of teens had drifted away from the grownups and went off to the side to have their own discussion about the potential terrorist in the boot.
Michelle groaned and shook her head at her best friend.
She was fully convinced that she and 'Emmett' were destined to be together because Sarah had predicted it using her tarot cards.
And Teagan would've supported it if it wasn't for the fact of Emmett being a potential
terrorist.
"I can learn to love him I suppose" Michelle muttered and sighed dreamily, glancing over at the closed car boot which Emmett was most definitely sweating his bollocks off in.
Teagan rolled her eyes and tried to talk some sense into Michelle, although that would be impossible.
"Get some perspective, Michelle. A Protestant has smuggled himself in the boot, if that doesn't scream terrorist then I don't know what does" she said in disbelief, her arms flailing about just trying to get her point across.
Michelle shrugged, "we all love a bad boy though, don't we" she smirked at Erin and Orla. Erin ignored her and rolled her eyes whilst Orla just nodded along. no doubt having no idea what they were talking about.
"Yeah, Not a fucking terrorist though Michelle!"
Teagan fired back.
Michelle was about to jump into a rant but was cut off by Erin walking in between the two of them and put her hands out to stop them.
"Do you remember the whole 'us being in grave danger' thing Sarah mentioned?" Well, I think...I think this might be it" she gasped dramatically.
Michelle scoffed and narrowed her eyes at Erin "I thought you said fortune-telling was medieval"
"Yeah, well, something has made me reassess all that." Erin glared at her friends.
"What was it again?" She smiled sarcastically at them before turning her lips into a tight scowl - "oh yeah, the fact that there's a Provo in the boot of our car!"
Teagan rolled her eyes and seemed to zone out, instead she tried to piece together a backstory for Emmett and guess what crimes he had to have committed to be so desperate to cross the border.
The only one that was worryingly coming to her was murder, she tried to convince herself other wise but she just couldn't.
"Oh no!" Clare declared and made everyone jump out of their skin.
The teens all turned to look at her, each with a furious look on their faces.
Clare didn't even look up— she was too concerned about complaining about loosing her stupid fucking bookmark.
"Bit of perspective Clare! There's a potential terrorist in the boot!" Teagan chastised and rolled her eyes.
Michelle nodded from her position next to Teagan. "Aye, I can learn to love him I guess?" She halfheartedly shrugged and shifted her gaze to look at the carboot that Emmett was currently residing in.
Teagan rolled her eyes so hard that she was concerned that they might've rolled all the way back. That's how much she was done with Michelle's bullshit'
"why doesn't someone just call the police?" james asked, confusion and annoyance both laced in his voice.
all five of the girls stared at him like he had suddenly sprouted three heads.
they crossed their arms over their chests, including his own girlfriend -- Teagan.
she quirked an eyebrow, hadnt Michelle taught him the basic laws of Derry?
"'Cause that's not how things work around her, james" michelle deadpanned and glared at him.
teagan nodded -- "Aye, snitches get stitches and end up in ditches. that's basically Derry's unofficial motto"
James scowled "How do they work? will one of you please explain it to me because sometimes I feel like I've gone through the fucking looking glass!" he ferociously ranted, leaving no member of the group a moment to react.
Teagan was taken aback by his outburst and narrowed her eyes at him.
what the fuck was wrong with him??, she wondered.
"Calm down james" Clare said, the rest of the girls all nodded along.
"Aye, James it's not that deep - we just don't snitch" Teagan said, shaking her head disapprovingly, but she still put a hand on his shoulder, supporting him.
James opened his mouth, no doubt to defend himself — but was cut off by Erin holding a finger in the air and muttering for them to 'shut up!'
Despite the pissed of looks on their faces, the whole group followed her demand and leant in closer to her, trying to hear what she was inching closer to.
They all collectively flinched back when Erin jumped backwards in shock and loudly exclaimed, "BOMB! he's got a bomb!"
————
Well.... long story short, Emmett did in fact, not have a bomb, But just so happened to have smuggled himself into the boot with the big clock inside.
Teagan would never forget the embarrassment on Erin's face, ah god — it was absolutely priceless.
She and Michelle hadn't stopped laughing at it until Mrs Quinn instructed them to get back in their cars.
Apparently — whilst Teagan and Michelle were too busy laughing so hard they started to wheeze — the grown ups had decided to have a full conversation about what they should do concerning Emmett.
Which, apparently, could only be done at the nearest diner, twenty minutes away from there current location.
Which meant more unneeded stops which resulted in Teagan getting even more pissed off.
Which leads us to Teagn's current situation, resting her head on Orla's shoulder and finally getting her well deserved sleep. well, i say 'sleep' — she kept on waking up every few minutes because Orla was squashing her into the wall, she couldn't even complain because Orla was also asleep with her head resting on top of teagan's.
So, Teagan was stuck in a cycle of drifting off and being rudely disturbed by either Orla's restlessness or the grown ups never ending bickering about the whole 'Emmett situation'.
To be completely honest, Teagan couldn't have cared less about what they chose to do now.
as long as they got to the caravan before she inevitably murdered one of them from how angry — and admittedly, hungry — she was due to her lack of sleep in the last 24 hours.
just as she finally thought Orla had calmed down and finally found a comfortable position to sleep in, Teagan was once again interrupted by someone speaking.
this time however, it was Erin who until now hadn't said anything. she was no doubt too busy internally rolling her eyes at everyone sat at the table and was probably ranting that everyone was acting so stupid and she was the only one who saw the severity of the situation. yeah, she knew erin too well.
'What if we don't help him and he kills us all because we know too much?" the oldest quinn girl asked, whispering harshly under her breath and sneaking a glance towards Emmett who was sat on another table calmly drinking a cup of tea.
orla suddenly perked up and turend to look at Erin, causing Teagan's head to fall off of her shoulder and made her have to finally give up on getting some sleep.
Teagan groaned and roll her eyes, slumping into the corner of the booth they were sat in and resting her head on her fist that was covered by the scrunched up sleeves of her grey jumper under her dungaree dress.
nevertheless, Teagan still payed to attention Orla, who seemed to not be understanding the potential dangers of Emmett staying with them.
"I like him. I think he's a character" she nodded, a wide grin on her lips.
teagan shared a look with James that confirmed they were definitely thinking the same thing and on the same page.
'She's lost her mind'
the voice of the waitress cut off teagan from voicing her - less than friendly opinion of Emmett staying with them.
"Well?" she asked in a dull tone.
gerry was the first to speak, "Just a cup of tea for me, please, love" he said timidly. mary and joe agreed and she asked for a few cokes for the kids. But teagan felt like something stronger, it had been a long day.
"What about you sarah?" Mary asked.
Sarah clicked her tongue and thought for a second before saying - "I wouldn't mind a wee vodka"
Teagan's face lit up and so did Michelle's. "Aye, make that three". michelle nodded.
Teagan felt like getting up and hitting the waitress after the look she gave them. the wee snotty bitch was getting on her nerves.
just as Teagan went to complain about her to the group, Emmett approached their table and smiled down at them, they all visibly reclined away from him when he picked up a knife off their table.
"Not decided yet?" he asked.
even if he was smiling and not doing something stereotypically 'murderous' Teagan just didn't't feel right about him and she shifted when his eyes solely focused on her for too long.
James caught her uncomftable squirming and frowned, The wasn't anything he could do except from 'menacingly' glare at him in an attempt to make him look away from her.
He really didn't want to start a fight with Emmett incase he really was a murderer like Teagan had suggested back in the drive to the diner.
Whether it was James's glare that scared Emmett away or the fact that his food was probably getting cold — Teagan didn't care.
she let out a breath she didn't know was stuck in her throat and sighed.
when michelle and sarah started to go on about emmett's 'potential' teagan rolled her eyes and zoned out, instead focusing on twirling a lock of hair around her finger. That was until baby Anna decided now was a good time to throw a fit and start to cry.
Teagan could see the glares everyone in the diner was giving Mary who was failing console the infant who was growing more and more restless by the second.
Teagan saw this as an oppurtunity to escape and quickly turned to smile at the distressed looking Mrs Quinn- "I can take her outside for a minute if you want?"
Teagan barley had time to react before Mrs Quinn was nodding enthusiastically and already undoing the straps on Anna's highchair and ordering michelle, sarah, joe and Orla to get out so that Teagan could get out of the booth.
they did as told and teagan quickly picked up anna and walked the few steps to the door of the diner and expected the door to close behind her when she stepped outside but it was suprisingly held open behind her.
Teagan turned to see James had quickly followed behind her and was holding the door open.
she just smiled, it was so weird having james as her 'boyfriend' — they hadnt offically called each other boyfriend and girlfriend yet but they were definitely exclusive.
Teagan had learnt the hard way that she had issues wiht informing other people in on her decisions and thoughts.
So the first thig she told james when she saw him the day after the party — after kissing him a few times — was confirm that they were 100% together but just hadnt used the 'names' yet.
The thee of them walked to the side of the diner — well Anna was being carried by Teagan, but you get the point — away from the smell of the petrol sation at the front.
James followed Teagan's lead and leant agaisnt the wall of the building.
he couldn't contain the smile that spread on his lips when he saw how adorable she looked with Anna.
He liked seeing the soft side of Teagan — the one she felt too vulnerable to allow anyone but him to see.
This Teagan wasn't all attitude and leather jackets paired with her usual smirk and hatred towards the world — she was simply a teenage girl who felt the weight of the world on her shoulders and carried everyone's problems with her.
"Are you gonna say anything or are you just going to keep gawking at me?"she asked, rocking anna on her hip. Not even needing to look up to recognise the familiar feeling of James's sage green eyes resting on her.
All those months of crushing on him had made her look for subtle hints that he felt the same way.
One of the ones she often noticed was the way he would just look at her without moving once. To anyone else it would sound creepy, but Teagan liked it.
James opend his mouth to say something but he had no idea what to actually say. why would he deny something he was so obviously doing?
"oh shushh" he mumbled, trying to contain his laughter so that he wouldnt set Anna off just as Teagan had calmed her. But even he couldnt stop a suppressed smile stretch across his lips.
————
A little while later after Anna had settled down and finally fell asleep, the two teenagers reluctantly started to make their way back into the diner and Teagan hoped for her own sanity that the others had finally made up their minds about what to do with Emmett.
"Aye, we better hurry up so you can get back to your tent minding duties" she laughed.
James just playfully shushed her and rolled his eyes. Guarding Jim's second best tent was an awful lot of stress that he really didn't want.
She clutched baby Anna closer and thanked James for holding the door open for them.
"What'd we miss?" She asked, glaring at Emmett who was unfortunately still with them.
Teagan placed Anna back in her high chair and turned to the table, expecting one of them to answer her.
"Erin's Da totally had a go at the waitress and made her cry" Michelle gossiped. "He sulked off after that" she shrugged.
Teagan sarcastically nodded and scowled, that wasn't really what she cared about. She wanted to know about their decision about Emmett.
She glared at the source of all their problems — Emmett.
"More importantly, Michelle" she shot a scowl towards her best friend. "Have youse decided what to do with him?".
The ones sat at the table all went silent and shook their heads, avoiding looking at Emmett.
Mary took the next step and turned to look at everyone sat at and around the table — "we have to decide what to do here, one way or another" she said, leaning closer into the group.
"Let's just vote"
Teagan nodded — finally they were acting sane.
"Leave him!" Erin shouted too enthusiastically.
She cowered under Emmett's disapproving gaze.
She moved into the group and slightly lowered her voice — "I vote we run and leave him"
"I vote we take him, for better or worse and all that" Michelle said, throwing a suggestive smile over to Emmett. By the looks of his face, Emmett wasn't enjoying the attention from Michelle.
Joe then decided to vote to take him and so did Orla.
Everyone turned to look at Clair, - "I can't decide" she said in a high voice.
Teagan knew that she really wanted to vote to leave him but didn't want to say it out loud.
Everyone shifted to James this time, who was still standing up with his hand laced in Teagan's.
"I've decided, but I'm too afraid to say what I've decided" he said sheepishly.
And finally — everyone turned to look at the last one to vote, Teagan.
She crossed her arms over her chest and turned her nose up at Emmett, all the while scowling at him.
"I agree with Erin, we should leave him" she shrugged unapologetically at him.
Everyone huffed, great they were no closer to an answer than they were before.
"Why don't we just toss a coin?" Sarah asked— coming up with the best idea any of them had that day.
"Aye, a coin" Teagan nodded.
————
"So, heads the wee RA man comes with us. Tails, we leave him" Sarah said and looked to the others for their approval.
They murmured in agreement.
"Ready?"
They all nodded.
The coin dropped on the table and they all fell deadly silent, as if a single breath would somehow affect the coins inevitable outcome.
The coins annoying clattering came to a halt and they all leaned into to see what it had decided for them.
"What is that? A fish?" James asked, leaning over Teagan's shoulder to get a closer look.
"A dolphin is it?"
Clare cocked her head to the side. "It sort of looks like Moby Dick, actually" she told everyone
Mary sighed - "ah, shite. I used a punt, didn't I ?"
"Well what's on the other side?" Michelle asked.
- " A harp" joe informed them.
Erin smiled. "So the harp must be the head and fish must be the tails!" She couldn't contain the wide grin that was spreading across her face with her success.
Teagan couldn't help herself either, her usual triumphant smirk naturally made its way into her lips.
"Why don't we do it again with real money?" Sarah suggested
"This is real money, Sarah!" Mary chastised.
Sarah sighed and shook her head, " you know what I mean. Normal money"
Mary gave up and huffed. "Alright! Who has ten pence?" She asked and looked around the group.
No one had time to respond because they were all cut off by the reappearance of Gerry and whatever he was shouting about.
"It was him!" He yelled
He elaborated as he walked closer to them.
"The mural on our house, the spray paint. It was Emmett! I can prove it"
Mary's eyes narrowed, "sly wee bastard" she seethed.
"You bloody tout" joe muttered accusingly.
"Where is Emmett?" Sarah asked.
Everyone looked around the empty diner trying to find where Emmett had gotten to.
Orla pointed outside the window at the petrol station "there he is!"
And she was right. Emmett was stood outside watching a man putting petrol in his car.
With Jim's bloody second best tent in his hand.
"Is that Jim's tent?" Sarah asked.
James and Teagan both whipped their heads to look at where he had left the tent and it was bloody gone.
James sadly shook his head and sighed.
"I told you to look after that tent" joe turned to glare at Gerry.
Gerry shook his head and pointed at James "No, you didn't you told him too look after it"
"Aye, blame the teenager" Teagan said, shaking her head in disbelief.
She knew this was an opportunity to get James off off the hook.
Joe agreed with her. "Aye, big man" he scowled.
"RIP Jim's second-best tent" Teagan sighed and flinched away from Erin's elbow and ignored her muttering for her to shut up.
They all watched as Emmett ran to the unexpected mans car that's boot had stayed open.
He threw himself in along with Jim's dearly missed second-best tent, and with that, Emmett disappeared as the car drive away.
Michelle's mouth hung open as she struggled to get her words out.
How could Emmett just leave her?
Orla, — not being able to read the anger of everyone in the room — shook her head and sighed "makes you feel a lot less special doesn't it?"
Teagan sniggered and tried to suppress the bemused smile on her face.
She turned to Michelle and quirked an eyebrow
"How will you two have the wedding now?" She smirked.
Michelle clicked her tongue and crossed her arms. "Fuck off, Teagan"
|ANNOUNCEMENT|
My new Derry girl book is now published!
It's a David Donnelly book
!!!
AN/
This took agessss to write but it's finally done!!!
Thank you all for 29k reads and over 1k likes.
You have no idea how much it means to me.
The next few chapters will be the last before we move onto season two and I'm so exited! I literally can't wait to write episode six. There's gonna be a big reveal 😉
3143 words!
22/4/20